Schroders, one of the UK's leading managers of commercial property investments, yesterday wiped 12.5 per cent off the value of units in its flagship £2bn fund, amid growing fears of a collapse in the sector.

The UK commercial property fund industry is facing a growing liquidity crisis as investors begin to flee a real estate market facing the prospect of a sustained downturn.

A third of the UKs commercial building stock is owned by foreign investors, a Royal & Sun Alliance report has found.

Schroders has cut the price of units in its flagship institutional property fund on falling commercial property prices in Britain, the UK fund manager said in a statement yesterday.

THE commercial property market is facing its worst year since it crashed in the early 1990s, according to forecasters that include CB Richard Ellis, the worlds biggest property consultant.

Stem cell technology pioneer, Plasticell, has secured an investment of £250,000 from The Capital Fund. Established in 2002, The Capital Fund is a £50 million venture capital fund that backs fast growing small and medium-sized companies in the Greater London area, and is the largest of the nine UK regional venture capital funds. [click link for full article]

UK commercial property prices have already fallen by 25 per cent since last summer, but there is now clear evidence is that the UK property market has entered its so-called double dip phase as falling rents from struggling office and retail occupiers began to accentuate already dropping prices in the cyclical market downturn over the past year.

By Al Yoon

Investors in UK commercial property will lose as much as 20% this year, according to the pricing of property derivatives, suggesting that a recovery for the asset class is much further off than expected.

U.S. office vacancies spiked higher in the fourth quarter and rents fell as the recession took a heavy toll on the commercial property market, according to data released on Tuesday. Real estate research firm Reis Inc said there is no end in sight to the property downturn and forecast rising vacancy rates into 2010. Rents fell 1.2 percent in the quarter, the sharpest ...

In January 2008, the picturesque west Highland village of Applecross contained 32 buildings with postal addresses. A year on, it has only 24. This is not the result of some new Highland clearance, but an absurd consequence of UK government bodies treating data collected in the course of their work as a commercial asset rather than a national resource to be shared. What is happening in ...

Activity in Australia's construction industry contracted for the 10th straight month in December as clamps on credit stifled new business in commercial and engineering projects, a survey showed on Thursday. The Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry Association performance of construction index (PCI) dropped 1.1 points to 30.9, the lowest reading since the survey ...

Owain Llywelyn reflects on his tenure as chair of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Wales and why the currently hard-pressed property sector will bounce back

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown will travel to Berlin Wednesday, Jan. 14, to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, his office said Thursday.